Washington D.C.

Reconstruction is, perhaps, the most little known segment of American history. Even professional historians cannot agree on basic questions about the period: when did Reconstruction end (or did it)? What did Reconstruction need to accomplish, and why did it fail? Is Reconstruction our “unfinished” American revolution, a revolution that went backwards, the era of citizenship, or something else? What are the geographic boundaries of Reconstruction? Was it possible for Americans reeling from a bloody war to achieve both "healing" and "justice"? Together, we will tackle these questions by reading and discussing cutting-edge scholarship in the field. We will examine the struggles for civil rights; violence and terrorism; and the political, cultural, emotional, regional, and gendered histories of Reconstruction.